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TRANS-MISSISSIPPI CONGRESS. 



STATEHOOD 



FOR 



NEW MEXICO. 



^PEECH OF 

Hon. Ly Bradford Prince, 

OF NEW MEXICO. 



Delivered at the Trans-Mississippi Congress, held at Cripple Creek. 
Colorado, July 19, 1 901. 



Santa Fe, N. M.: 
New Mexican Printing Company. 
1901. 



O 7 /r'6 '^ /(f 



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RESOLUTION. 



10 ^ 

^ Whereas, The principle of self-g'overnment is the fundamental'idea 

of American institution, and no body of American citizens sliould be 
deprived of it except under temporary circumstances wliich render its 
exercise impossible; 

Resolved. That a compliance with this great principle, as well as every 
consideration of justice and equity, i^equires the immediate admission 
to the Union of New Mexico, which fully possesses the population, char- 
acter, resources and financial ability necessary to qualify it for state- 
hood. 



ADDRESS. 



Mr. President: I have the less hesitation in urging- this subject on 
your attention at this time, because this C-'ongress has so emphatically 
placed itself on record as to New Mexican statehood in the past. 

At eight successive sessions of the Congress, beginning at New Or- 
leans in 1892, and including the congresses which followed at Ogden, 
San Francisco, St. Louis, Omaha, Salt Lake, Wichita and Houston, I 
have had the honor to introduce a resolution, similar in its purport to 
that now under consideration, and in every instance the Congress has 
signified its approval by a unanimous vote: so that the people of the 
great Trans-Mississippi country have expressed their opinion with no 
uncertain sound. 

In asking you to reaffirm that expression today, I will not repeat all 
of the arguments which I ha^'e used on previous occasions, but wish to 
emphasize the point that among American citizens the right of self- 
government should not have to be begged for as a privilege, but should 
be conceded as a right. In a case like that of New Mexico, a longer con- 
tinuance of territorial government is not only improper and injurious 
but is unrepublican and in violation of the dearest rights of our peo- 
ple as citizens of the Great Republic 

The considerations and statistics to which T will ask your attention 
are substantially the same as those presented by me to the U. S. Senate 
committee as long ago as .Tune 25. 1892, and though thus before the 
people fo)' over nine years have nev'er yet been satisfactorily contro- 
verted or impeached. 

right of self-government. 

Self-government is an inherent right of American citizenship: in fact 
it is inseparable from the fundamental principles of republican institu- 
tions. The right to a representative voice in the legislative body which 
enacts the laws which he is to obey and impose the taxes which he is 
obliged to pay, is one dear to every American, and the right to take part 
in the selection of the national chief magistrate and of the local gover- 
nor and similar officials is likewise one of which he will not willingly 
be deprived. 



^2. 



c- 



These principles of self-g-overnment are so fundamental in our insti- 
tutions that no citizen should be deprived of the right except under such 
peculiar circumstances as render its exei^cise impossible or dangerous. 
When a population is so sparse that it is not able to support a local 
government or that elections are impracticable, one of these exceptional 
cases occurs, and such a population has to be ruled in some other way 
and is deprived temporarily of its right to self-government: but the 
moment the peculiar conditions are removed the disability should van- 
ish with them and the citizen should regain his inherent right. 

To apply this practically, while in a section of country the people are 
so few or so poor as to make self-government impossible, they can be 
temporarily organized under a territorial government, in order to pro- 
tect life and property, but the moment they are able to become self- 
governing they are entitled to that right. A territorial condition is an 
exceptional one, only intended as a temporary expedient, and is in dero- 
gation of the civil rights of all the citizens affected thereby; and, as the 
normal condition of an American citizen is one of self-government, the 
bui'den of proof is upon those who desire to continue the abnormal 
form, and not upon those who insist on the organization of a state. 

We submit that no circumstance now exists, in relation to the people 
of New Mexico which justifies their being longer deprived of their full 
rights under a state government. If one of them moves into Colorado 
or into Texas, he is immediately invested with the full rights of Amer- 
ican citizenship: if he moves back, he loses them. This is improper and 
absurd. He is no more intelligent or honest or patriotic because he has 
crossed an imaginary line, nor does he lose any good qualities when 
he ixcrosses it. 

Lack of sufficient i)opulation or property, or intelligence, might cause 
from necessity a temporary suspension of full civil rights to the inhab- 
itants of a district of country, but I will endeavor to show, briefly but 
plainly, that neither of such conditions exists in New Mexico at present. 

SPECIAL OBLIGATIONS. 

Apart from the obligation which the nation owes to each of its citi- 
zens to secure to him the right of self-government, except where special 
exigencies prevent, speciffc promises were made to the people of New 
Mexico at the time of its acquisition, which have hitherto been disre- 
garded. When General Kearny made his peaceful entry into Santa 
Fe, he issued a formal proclamation on August 22, 1840. assuming the 
government of tlie entire territory, and containing this statement: "It 
is the wish and intention of the United States to provide for New Mex- 
ico a free government, with the least possible delay, similar to those in 
the United States." The people wei^e satisfied with the pacific sentiment 
of the American commander, relied on the promises of the proclama- 
tion, and ottered no opposition to the occupation of the whole area of 
New Mexico. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, executed February 21, 
1848, confirmed this promise 

ATTEMPTS TO OBTAIN STATEHOOD. 

Relying on these pledges and anxious to possess all the rights of 
American citizenship, the people, early in 1850, held a convention, ad- 
opted a constitution, elected state officers, a legislature, and William 
S. Messervy as member of Congress. In July the legislature elected R 
H. Weightman and F. C. Cunningham as senators, and they, with the 
meml)er of ("ongress, proceeded to Washington. While on the journey 
they were met by the intelligence of the passage, on September i). of the 
famous "compromise m^easure,'" whiclj admitted California as a state 
and relegated New Mexico to the condition of a territory. 

From that time to the present, attempts to secure admission have 
constantly been made. The territorial legislature has repeatedly 
memorialized Congress on the subject, the delegates have introduced 



enabling acts, and the people have never rested contendedly under their 
deprivation of the rights of citizenship. Congress has not entirely failed 
to respond to these appeals. Both houses of the forty-third Congress 
passed an enabling act, the house by a vote of 160 to 54 and the senate 
by 32 to 11. The bill was slightly amended in the senate and failed 
because it was impossible at the end of the session (it passed the senate 
February 24) to bring it up for concurrence in the house. In the suc- 
ceeding Congress a similar bill passed the senate by a vote of 35 to 15, 
was reported favorably in the house, but failed to be reached. For 
about twenty years scarcely a Congress has passed in which an en- 
abling act has not been passed in one house or the other, but by some 
accident or obstacle concurrent action has failed. If it was proper to 
admit New Mexico in 1874 or 187 ti, before it possessed a mile of railroad, 
a single public building, a developed mine, a matured orchard, or an 
alfalfa field, what reason can now be given for delay, when its popula- 
tion has greatly increased, its condition vastly improved, and its re- 
sources of all kinds are being developed into sources of w^ealthV 

POPULATION. 

In this respect the claim to statehood is indisputable. No territory 
at the time of its admission, with the exception of Dakota and Utah, 
has contained the population now in New Mexico. By the census of 
1900 it had 193.310 inhabitants, without counting the Indians on the 
reservations. The real population, as has been conclusively shown in 
public documents and is pi-actically unquestioned, was between 225,000 
and 2.35,000, the difficulty of full enumeration where the area is so vast 
and the population so scattered accounting for the difference. But, tak- 
ing the census figures, the above statement as to other territories is 
correct. The following table shows the date of the admission of each 
territory, with its population according to the next preceding census. 
Of course, in some cases, there had been considerable growth between 
the census and the date of admission, but there is likewise an increase 
in New Mexico since 1900. 



State. 



Tennessee 

Ohio 

Louisiana. 
Indiana.... 
Mississippi 

Illinois 

Alabama . . 
Missouri . . . 
A rkansas . , 
Michigan. . 

Florida 

Iowa 

Wisconsin . 
California. 



Date of 

admis- 


Popu- 
lation. 






1796 


3.1,691 


1802 


43.365 


1813 


76,556 


181ti 


24,.530 


1817 


=M0,353 


1818 


12,282 


1819 


(t) 


1821 


66,557 


1836 


30,388 


1837 


31,639 


1845 


.54.477 


1846 


43,112 


1848 


30,945 


1850 


92,597 



Minnesota. ... 

Oregon 

Kansas 

Nevada 

Nebraska 

Colorado. . . ■■• 
North Dakota 
South Dakota 
Washington: . 

Montana 

Idaho 

Wyoming 

Utah 



Date of 
admis- 
sion. 



1858 
18.59 
1861 
1864 
1867 
1876 
1889 
1889 
1889 
1889 
1890 
1890 
1896 



Popu- 
lation. 



6,077 
13,294 
107,206 

6,857 
28,841 
39,864 

j- 135177 

75,116 
39, 159 
84,385 
60,705 
207,905 



* Including.' Alabama. 

+ Included with Mississippi. 

The lesson drawn from this table becomes more marked when we re- 
member that in many of the territories mentioned a large fraction of 
the population was made up of slaves who were not citizens and had no 
vote, and further that in nearly all of them the proportion of aliens was 
far greater than in New Mexico. Thus, in Missouri there were over 
10.000 slaves, in Florida, over 25.000, and in Louisiana over 34,000. 
When these numbers are deducted, it reduces the self-governing popu- 
lation quite materially. 

So it is evident that there is now no reason, on the score of lack of 



6 

sufficient population, for deprivinj^- the people of New Mexico of the or- 
dinary rig-hts of citizens. On the contrary it has more population than 
the old state of Delaware, 50,000 more than Idaho, more than double 
the population of Wyoming and five times that of Nevada. 

FINANCIAL STRENGTH., 

The next question is whether the value of taxable property is suffi- 
cient to support a state government. If not, that might be a valid reason 
for longei" delay. But we tind that the average assessed valuation of 
property for the last ten years is over $40,000,000. This is much larger 
than that of many other territories at the time of their admission. For 
instance the valuation of Wyoming was $31,000,000, and of Idaho only 
$28,000,000. The credit of New Mexico is excellent, notwithstanding the 
prejudice against territorial securities in the financial centers. 

Beginning in July, 1889, it has been gradually paying oft" its bonded 
debt, having in 1891 to pay as high as 117 for bonds it desired to re- 
deem, and within the last few years the interest on much of its indebt- 
edness has been reduced to five and even to four per cent. 

RESOURCES. 

The resources of the territory, as the foundation of its ability to sus- 
tain its own government permanently, are properly a matter for inquiry. 
And on this subject we may make the broad assertion that New Mexico 
is endowed with greater natural i-esources, and in greater variety than 
any other state or territory of the union. This probably sounds extra- 
vagant, and maybe considered as a specimen of western hyperbole, but 
while it is a bold statement, it is made with an entire appreciation of its 
full significance, and is well considered and deliberate. Let me repeat 
it. No single state or territory embraces within its borders the variety 
and extent of natural resources which exist in New Mexico. Only one 
approaches it, and that is California: and the possession of almost 
limitless beds of coal, both bituminous and anthracite, give New Mex- 
ico a superiority even over that favored state. If time permitted it 
would be easy to show the truth of this general statement. As it is, I 
must refer to more extended documents, which will be supplied witli 
pleasure, for the particulars. 

PUBLIC PROPERTY. 

No territory has evei- erected so many public buildings, or possessed 
so much public property as New Mexico. Without the slightest aid 
from the national government, it built a most beautiful capitol. a sub- 
stantial penitentiary, and in 1889 ana 1890 an insane asylum. university, 
agricultural college and school of mines. More recently it has added 
to the list the normal university at Las Vegas, normal school at Silver 
City, military institute at Roswell and blind asylum at Santa Fe; and 
when the capitol was destroyed by fire it erected another which is the 
object of general admiration All tliese structures are moi'e than credit- 
able, they are sources of pride and gratification, and with slight excep- 
tion they have been paid for from taxation without the incurring of any 
indebtedness whatever. In nearly every western state the institutions 
of a similar character have been erected wholly or in part by grants of 
land made at the time of their admission, but New Mexico has not 
waited for such assistance. In addition to the above, more than half of 
our counties have erected commodious and elegant court houses of 
stone or brick within the past few years. 

It seems strange that with all these facts in her favor. New ^iexico 
should have been so long deprived of statehood. It would be foolish 
to ignore the fact that there has existed in the eastern mind a prejudice 
against her on account of the supposed 



CHAHACTER OF THK POPULATION. 

By many, the people are looked upon as foreign and not in harmony 
with American institutions. It is strange that this objection should arise 
in a land which absorbs half a million of foreigners every year, and 
which manages to assimilate the very worst elements of continental 
Europe. It siiould be remembered that New Mexico was acquired in 
1846, that all of its inhabitants except the oldest were born on American 
soil, and that its people belonged to a sister republic with institutions 
similar to ours, and so needed no new education in free government. 
For almost half a century they have been electing their legislatures, 
making their laws, and carrying on their local government under the 
American system. 

The people have shown themselves as loyal as any in the nation. 
During the rebellion, out of her total jjopulation of 93,567. she sent 
6.561 into the army. Her volunteers fought at Valverde, Peralta and on 
other tields: and at Glorieta, together with their comrades of Colorado, 
defeated the enemy and turned back the column which was advancing 
northerly from Texas with the intention of cutting off the Pacific slope 
from the remainder of the country. The value of that service to the 
Union cause can scarcely be overestimated. The total number of vol- 
unteers from the territories now composing the six new states of North 
Dakota. South Dakota, Washington. Montana, Idaho and Wyoming- 
was 1.170. Colorado sent but 4.903. and Nebraska. Oregon and Nevada, 
taken together, did not contribute but 6,047, being 500 less than New 
Mexico alone. 

In the recent war with Spain, the people showed equal patriotism, no 
less than 1.089 volunteers enlisting, including about 500 "Rough 
Riiers."" who gained a high reputation at Las Guasimas and on San 
Juan Hill. 

If we look at the foreign element in the population we will find it 
smaller in New Mexico than anywhere in the country, except in certain 
southern states. A comparison with territories i^ecently admitted is 
instructive in this regard. The figures are those of the census of 1890, 
which are the latest available on this point. 

New Mexico contained 11.259 foreign inhabitants out of a total of 
153.593, at 7* per cent. 

Idaho had '11 per cent.: Wyoming, 24: Washington, 25: Montana, 43. 
and North Dakota 45. 

Even in the older states. New York and Michigan had 26 per cent.; 
Massachusetts. 29: Rhode Island, Wisconsin and California, 30; and 
Minnesota 36. 

So that New Mexico looms up as a specially native American com- 
munity. 

But to the uninformed the large number of voters of Spanish descent 
is looked upon as a grave misfortune. There could not be a greater 
mistake. It is the possession of that conservative element in connec- 
tion with the energetic and enterprising American from the east which 
gives New Mexico her special advantages as a self-governing commu- 
nity over most other territories. Every one familiar with the far west 
knows that the principal danger in new communities arises from the 
unsettled and irresponsible character of much of the population. 

They have energy, general intelligence, vigor and enterprise, and we 
recognize them in those respects as good state builders: but at the same 
time they have some characteristics not so desirable. One is that they 
are continually "on the move." The number of men through all that 
region with whom two years is a long residence in any one place is 
astonishing. The habit of moving is upon them, and they are always 
looking for some new place to which to migrate. Of course there are 
many solid, substantial citizens: but this restless, nomadic population 
constitutes an element that is always active, aggressive and noisy. 



mSZJr congress' 




8 0i7"'g-'™«™ 

They are eager for office, ready to vote for any amount oi ux^.^.^^ _ " 

taxation, and to their irresponsible action is principally due the heavy 
indebtedness and not infrequeni bankruptcy of so many western cities 
and counties. They do the mischief and are g-one before its effects are 
felt. The chief danger in many a new community comes from this class 
of men and from the over enthusiasm of others who think that life in 
the west is a continual })oom, and many a state and territory has suf- 
fered from it. But New Mexico runs no such risk. She has a solid, 
stable, responsible and conservative element in her native population, 
which counteracts the danger. They are attached to the soil and have 
no thought of leaving. They are identified with the country, and natu- 
rally opposed to rash schemes which involve extravagant expense and 
debt. Mixed with the over zealous American, they form an admirable 
combination. Another objection which has been urged against us is 
that of 

ILLITERACY. 

Some years ago there m.ay have been some force in this argument, 
but it is fast disappearing. In no respect has New Mexico been making 
such rapid progress as in public education. Even under the crude sys- 
tem which existed before the jiublic school law of 1891, J;he number of 
children under instruction had increased in a ratio far in advance of 
the population. The census developed the fact that while the popula- 
tiop of the territory increased 28 per cent, during the decade from 1880 
to 1890, the number of children enrolled in the schools increased 283 per 
cent., or ten times as rapidly. During the last decade the gain has been 
equally gratifying. The school law of 1891 gave a great impetus to 
public instruction. Under its beneficent provisions the educational sys- 
tem is improving with great rapidity. 

It should be remembered that all this has to be done by direct tax- 
ation, as we have had no scliool fund whatever. Should you deprive 
all of the states of their school funds a lamentable condition of affairs 
would result in many of them. If the educational matter is to be con- 
sidered it should be weighed in the direction of giving us statehood, 
which will increase our means for public education rather than in de- 
priving VIS of it. 

CONCLUSION. 

In every respect in which she can control her own destiny. New Mex- 
ico is improving and advancing. Her population and wealth are in- 
creasing. Railroads are reaching every section. The products of agri- 
culture and horticulture, of the sheep range and the mines, are all en- 
larged. Great systems of modern irrigation are multiplying her fruitful 
acreage. The incubus of the past, the uncertainty of land titles, is being 
removed by the Land Court. 

Thus in every way the tendency is upward and onward. The great 
obstacle to rapid advancement is the continued territorial condition. It 
is impossible to obtain money for needed development in a territory. 
Eastern capitalists will not loan or invest, as they have an idea that 
there is no stability of government or security for property without 
statehood. To a certain extent immigration is also retarded. It is apt 
to be thought that a territory is backward and unprogressive. The 
admission of New Mexico into the Union will give a great impetus to 
its prosperity. Population will flow in with rapidity. The capital 
needed for the development of our resources will be easily obtained. 
Rates of interest will be lowered. We will be relieved from certain 
Congressional statutes • which now impede our progress. The people 
will feel that they are really American citizens, and not aliens or ser- 
vants. All this will enkindle ambition, invigorate our energies, sti- 
mulate enterprise, and lead us on to a glorious future. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



017 056 957 A 



